I'm seeking a Mac app for creating basic flowcharts and similar diagrams.

Google has been no help; I've followed dozens of links to apps that either don't exist anymore, I can't find any real reviews of, or that won't run on OS X 10.6.6.

What I'd really like:

A simple and clean interface

Basic shapes

Automated connectors that stay linked as you move shapes around

Inexpensive, preferably under $30 but definitely under $50

What I'm not looking for:

Hundreds of shapes

Default styles that have shadows and textures and such that I have to keep removing

Dozens of amazing features that allow you to automatically map databases and draw UML diagrams from code and such (I'm looking at you, Visio) that I have to constantly navigate around to make a few basic diagrams

A mind-mapping app with all the features such a thing entails, one that happens to also let you make basic diagrams

A full-fledged drawing app where, once again, I have to maneuver around a whole bunch of features and options to get to the basic functions I need. (I have Illustrator, I love Illustrator, but it's crap for basic flowcharts and other simple diagrams.)

I wouldn't actually use it for flowcharts, but rather basic similar diagrams to show data flow between apps, information flow in a company or other places, that kind of thing.

I recently found out that the drawing portion of Google Docs actually does a pretty good job with the types of diagrams I need to create, but the UI is pretty poor and it obviously requires a constant net connection.

I appreciate the suggestion. I spent about 45 minutes with OmniGraffle a couple of months ago, trying to make the type of simple diagram I'm talking about. Unfortunately I found it to often be counterintuitive and/or in the way. I've not managed to figure out how to, for example, not have a shadow appear on every shape I draw, a shadow that I have to manually remove. I grew accustomed to copying and pasting shapes that I'd removed the shadow from (along with other default formatting), and realize that with enough effort could make my own template, but why should I for $100?
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Matthew FrederickJan 17 '11 at 7:22

@Matthew - would this or this solve the problem?
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DoriJan 17 '11 at 8:06

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I recommend Omnigraffle. It is a maddening program out of the box, with all of the defaults configured to please one of the old gods from the Cthulhu Mythos by HP Lovecraft, but it is possible to configure them sensibly. The ones in Preferences are easy to find, but the tricky bit is how to figure out how to set the defaults on drawing: click on the toolbar icon of choice with the option key down, so that Omnigraffle lets you set the desired default properties using the inspectors without having to create a graphic object first.
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Michael Brian BentleyJan 17 '11 at 19:37

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I've chosen OmniGraffle as my answer, though maybe I'll use it to design the app I really want. :)
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Matthew FrederickJan 20 '11 at 5:25

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@Dori I went with OmniGraffle back when you first suggested it and am now very experienced with it and love it. Thanks for the recommendation!
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Matthew FrederickJan 3 '12 at 22:54

The Google Docs suite of tools now has a diagramming tool that lets you create flowcharts. While not as feature rich as something like OmniGraffle, it does cover all your requirements: simple & clean interface, basic shapes (and not an overabundance of shapes), automatic connectors with elasticity, and it meets your price point at free.

Certainly can't hurt to try it out before you drop $100 on the Mac Daddy of diagramming programs for Mac.

The link above is to a GUI wrapper to the command line utility. With GraphViz, layout is automated, so you don't get to choose exactly where the nodes end up, although you can provide hints and have some limited control.

Regarding your other points:

It is CLI, so I think that counts as a simple and clean interface

Basic shapes are provided

Connectors are automated and will stay linked (although you can't move shapes with a mouse).

Shapes is a simple, elegant Graphing and Diagramming app for Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Shapes gives you all of the most important features you need in a Diagramming tool without all the extra cruft, and without breaking the bank.

Just bought shapes from the app store after stumbling on this thread. I find it fast and intuitive. Just shapes, lines, and text. Thats all I wanted. I was able to make a flowchart with several dozen elements in less than half an hour.
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colonelclickJan 11 '13 at 17:05

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+1 for Dia. Just created a diagram using it and it works great on Mac. Only drawback is that it indeed doesn't feel like a native application, however it's cross-platform (so once you know how to use it, you can use it anywhere else), free and open source. Exports great to PDF as well, which is what I needed. All in all, great, useful software.
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this.lau_Oct 7 '13 at 13:22

For free online diagramming there's draw.io, which I co-author. THe U/I is simple and clean. It support the automatic connection and dragging of components you're looking for. Also, it's free, which meets your under $30 requirement.

I know this is an older thread, but I would like to throw in my $.02 (since things have changed some since this was posted). Lucid Chart for Google Apps is a viable solution. It is free for basic diagramming, and there are very reasonable pricing for more advanced features. It even has the capability to open (and save) Visio documents. It is integrated with Google Drive (for personal OR Apps Domains) and is real-time collaborative. Google Docs, of course, has a Drawing tool, but Lucid expands on it with some drag-n-drop features and other more advanced tools you would expect from fat-client apps. more information can be found on their website but if you search in the Chrome Web Store, you will find it and can install it directly from there. At that point it is as simple as logging into Google Drive and clicking Create and selecting Lucid Chart as the document type.

I noticed nobody has mentioned the flowchart for mac solution from Lucidchart. It is web based, it is integrated with google drive, allows real time collaboration, and is so much more than just flowcharts. I highly recommend it!
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user43364Feb 20 '13 at 23:09

Apple's Keynote may primarily be for presentations, but its diagramming tools also hit all your requirements: simple interface; polygons of arbitrary number of sides; connection lines (select two shapes, right click, "Add Connection Line"); cost of USD$20.

As a bonus, you'll have great presentation software to show off your cool new diagrams.

We're looking for long answers that provide some explanation and context. Don't just give a one-line answer; explain why your answer is right, ideally with citations. Answers that don't include explanations may be removed.

Since what you're asking for is an extremely simple to use program without advanced features and lots of shapes, I suggest Delinieato, available through the Mac App store. Delineato gets ideas out of your head and onto the screen with a few clicks. It includes specifically the features you asked for, simple shapes, easy to use connectors, connectors that flow with the shapes as you move them around the screen. Delineato also has an infinite sized canvas, allowing you to shift things around and expand ideas as neccessary.

I like this app's simplicity, as well as its complexity all at one shot. I have been looking for something like this for a while. There are features being added all the time, but I will be honest, this has a promising start.
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Matt RidgeJul 3 '13 at 14:10

Well, I read all the posts and tried several of these apps, as I was also looking for a flowchart tool.
Go for Pencil (thanks Sangcheol Choi) It's amazing yet simple. Yes, it has a lot of shapes, but it also has a very intuitive search tool, and the MEANING of each of them, which many other apps don't have.... Sometimes, that's very useful, at least for people who do not deal with flowcharts every day, so we are not sure about the meaning of some less used shapes....

I'm really liking Gliffy. I'm a long-time user of Graffle and have tried a number of the other suggestions on this page. Graffle is great except for one crucial, deal-killing problem - it's orthogonal connecting line algorithm is terrible. I have to manually redraw lines almost anytime I move anything.

Gliffy is completely intuitive - everything pretty much does what I expect it to, and there are nice keyboard shortcuts for most things. I'd like to see symmetrical resizing (hold down option like in Graffle) so I don't have to re-center every time I resize a box, but that's a niggle.

The one feature I'd really like that none of these programs seems to have is the ability to expand or collapse a process block to reveal the flowchart of what's in the box. MacFlow under Mac OS9 used to do this, and it was wonderful: double-click a box and a new page would open, where you could flowchart the "nested" process. Close that window and the chart is hidden, but still there underneath whenever needed. Boxes with nested flowcharts had a bold border around them to let you know.

I see you that you need to draw flowchart with basic shapes and grids. I would recommend a web based solution since you are not always using it. But if you are drawing flowcharts frequently I suggest you to get an flowchart software like Creately. There is a mac version available and you can try for free

Creately has an improved interface and I can assure you that it is very user friendly powerful and simple.

Yes, Creately supports 1000's shapes since there are more than 50 diagrams types made available to use. And you can customize to use the ones you want to use frequently as well.

Creately has what you call (smart connectors) that can automatically connect shapes by identifying the position of the shape and the connector type it requires.

You can edit change / add different styles and improve your diagrams with creately as you want.

Its a fully fledged diagram designing application made for diagramming mainly focused on the design and use. It has specific features for each diagram type.

Perfection is the word for the diagrams you design from creately. Further more there are many templates and examples to be used to create instant diagrams.

Price is under 50$ as you mentioned and the whole package is worth it. You can always try be for you buy.

Try Describio (https://www.describio.com). You can create runnable flowcharts using either the user interface or JavaScript (if you know how to code). You can also use user inputs to help control the flow. It's a more-advanced tool, but it's very useful for creating working prototypes. Check it out!

We're looking for long answers that provide some explanation and context. Don't just give a one-line answer; explain why your answer is right, ideally with citations. Answers that don't include explanations may be removed.